Soldiers backed by tanks stormed the town from three directions but the hardline Shebab had already fled before the assault, said Somalia's deputy army commander Abdikarin Yusuf Dhegobadan.

"Our forces took control of Burhakaba without a fight, and we are clearing any bombs that might have been planted," he told reporters.

The capture of Burhakaba marks a key stage in efforts to open up the main highway from the capital Mogadishu running northwest to Baidoa, a major town wrested from the Shebab by Ethiopian troops last year.